Throughout the course of the past year, factory Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia has established himself as the Italian brand’s clear number one – in no small part thanks to his 2022 MotoGP world championship.
But how he’s done it is perhaps most interesting: by taking all the strengths of Ducati’s former title contender Andrea Dovizioso and fixing his faults.
Bagnaia has been, for much of his early time in MotoGP, a character capable of mixed results. Inarguably ultra fast on his day, he has traditionally also been somewhat inconsistent as well, with unforced errors all of his own making something that we’ve seen all too much of in the past.
He’s smoothed much of that out in the past year, though. Sure, there have still been the odd crash here and there, but they’ve been relatively few and far between – and, despite a brief detour towards old habits this year, he’s still been able to rack up a substantial points lead.
But there’s been more to Bagnaia’s impressive start to 2023 in particular than just his newfound consistency. One of eight Ducatis on the grid this year and one of four of the latest GP23 spec, his fellow Desmosedicis have proven to so far be his main foes as Honda and Yamaha in particular struggle.
But what has made the reigning world champion stand out this year is the way in which he and his Ducati seem to be working as one.
Other riders on the Italian marque have off weekends or bad races. They start out on Friday struggling and never find the speed they need. They don’t quite have the same ‘luck’ that Bagnaia seems to find.
It’s clear that there’s something more special going on in the Bagnaia side of the factory garage, something that gives him an edge. Part of it, of course, is down to having both the bike tailored to him in particular (a champion’s right, after all) and having the full might of the factory’s data engineers behind him – but there’s also an element that’s down to the man on the bike.
Knowing nothing else in MotoGP thanks to his progression from Moto2 to Pramac Racing and then to the factory colours, it’s given the intelligent racer the time to make sure that his own style is as well-suited to Ducati’s rather unique bike as the bike is to him.
And in that is the most direct comparison that can be made to the guy he replaced as Ducati’s title contender – and whose number of career MotoGP victories he matched at the last round of the championship in Assen.
While Dovizioso might have spent time in the earlier part of his storied career with other brands, the lion’s share of his time in MotoGP came with Ducati, racing for Bologna as he did from 2013 to 2020 and very much doing what Bagnaia is doing now in creating a well-matched pairing.
That’s evidenced from his own results with the brand compared to his fellow Ducati riders at the time. Not quite the same straightforward comparison that it is now thanks to a rather mixed bag of equipment level at the time, it’s nonetheless easy to see that Dovi was routinely above Ducati’s other riders even if the likes of Andrea Iannone and Jorge Lorenzo were able to win races on the other side of the garage.
He and Bagnaia share a clever and calculating mindset that allows them to shine on the bike. Not just in terms of set-up but also racecraft, Sunday tactics and tyre management, the pair both understood how to race a Ducati.
Though their riding styles are different and the introduction of a new Michelin rear tyre in 2020 had helped unleash one yet subdue the other, Bagnaia’s wins have resembled Dovizioso’s finest hours at Ducati – getting to the front, pace-managing to a certain point, pulling the pin at the right moment and masterfully soaking up late-race pressure whenever that’s required.
Yet, it’s Bagnaia that’s been able to do what Dovizoiso couldn’t and win a MotoGP title – something that’s easy to understand when you realise that the reigning champion has one key skill that’s always been missing somewhat from Dovizioso’s own toolkit.
Bagnaia can do what Dovizioso always seemed to struggle with, and deliver a good performance not just on Sunday but on Saturday too, while in time attack mode in qualifying. More important than ever in modern MotoGP as riders increasingly complain about aerodynamics making it more and more difficult to overtake, grid position is everything – and Bagnaia is better at ensuring a good one.
That’s backed up by the statistics, too. From his incredible 248 MotoGP races, Dovizoso started only seven from pole position. Meanwhile, Bagnaia (with three times fewer races at only 75) has already seen the lights go out from the P1 spot 15 times: a record of 20% versus Dovi’s 3%.
In that number lies all the difference. It’s what has allowed Bagnaia to turn the skills the duo share into not just more wins (he now has one more than Dovi on Ducati machinery) but the elusive premier-class title that escaped the class veteran multiple times.
